


Honey, Honey, How You Thrill Me

by lululawrence



Series: Honey Series [4]
Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, BBC Radio 1, Co-workers, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Honey, Humor, M/M, No Smut, Pining, Radio Host Harry Styles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 13:58:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19831663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence
Summary: Harry knocked once more before coming to the conclusion that knocking for longer than that was rude.He’d just decided to leave when the door opened.“Fuck, you were asleep, weren’t you?”“Well, it’s past 8, so yeah, basically,” Greg said with a yawn.God, he’d been asleep for over an hour. Harry was the worst.“I’m so sorry. Here. Take this and get back to sleep. I’m so incredibly sorry for waking you up,” Harry babbled, shoving the jar of honey into Greg’s hands.Greg looked at the jar then back up at Harry, still not saying anything. Probably because his brain was still asleep just like his body would’ve been if Harry hadn’t been a fucking idiot.“Sorry again!” Harry said before giving a lame wave and rushing off to the nearest tube station.Or the one where Harry pines after fellow Radio 1 DJ Greg James but doesn't know how to start a conversation with him...until he gets the needed inspiration.





	Honey, Honey, How You Thrill Me

**Author's Note:**

> And here we are with Honey 4! I'm so excited to share this one with you. In case you haven't read the others, every week of Wordplay I'm writing a different fic using that week's prompt. They'll be based off of a tweet that reads, "when i feel bad about my social skills i remind myself how one time rachmaninoff decided he was gonna be pals with stravinsky (who'd casually mentioned he liked honey) so he showed up at his house in the middle of the night with an enormous jar of honey and no explanation." I might continue the series later, but as of now it'll just be the five weeks for Wordplay with various pairings!
> 
> This is part of a Wordplay prompt challenge for the prompt "tin". To read the amazing fics that were written by the others on this prompt, [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/tin_tin), and to see all fics written as part of the challenge (including years 1 and 2), [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wordplay_fic_challenge/works). You can also find the masterpost for this year’s challenge [here](https://wordplayfics.tumblr.com/post/185709101043/wordplay-2019-every-week-for-five-weeks-a-prompt).
> 
> Biggest of all massive thanks go to [Nicola](https://missytearex.tumblr.com) and [Chelle](https://aslowmotionaccident.tumblr.com) for their betaing and brit picking services, even when they'd never read a Harry/Greg fic before lollll This is the rarest of all rare pairs I've ever written, especially considering before this one only two fics even come up when you search the pairing lolllll Basically, what I'm saying, is if you're taking a chance with me, I am so thankful! This fic is as pretty as it is because of the work of those two amazing people listed above, so THANK YOU! There's likely mistakes left behind, but those are mine alone.
> 
> The title comes from the song Honey, Honey by ABBA! This is a work of fiction, I've never met anyone within the realm of the band or Radio 1, please don't share this fic with anyone associated, etc etc etc. I also do not allow translations or reposting of the fic without my express permission. 
> 
> Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!

Most days Harry still couldn’t believe he was doing what he’d always dreamed of. Walking up to the new BBC Broadcasting House was surreal, and he got to do it five days a week. Sure, he was on in the middle of the night, but he was still a DJ on  _ BBC Radio 1. _ It was one of those things he’d always said was his dream but he never actually believed it could happen. 

And then it did.

Harry loved DJing the Indie Show because he got to play music that he felt really deserved more attention and really showcase artists that maybe wouldn’t normally get that kind of platform on their own. 

This week, though, he was even more excited. Adele was on holiday and Harry had been asked to fill in for her on the Early Breakfast Show for the week. He was excited for the opportunity, but mostly he’d been excited because subbing on the Early Breakfast Show meant that his slot would go all the way up to Greg James’ Breakfast Show slot.

Harry had been harbouring a bit of a crush on Greg for years now, but it wasn’t until he got to meet Greg a few times that he started slowly falling for the man on a deeper level.

Sure, Greg was attractive. And ridiculously funny. And fairly irreverent with a penchant to making their bosses and his producers pull their hair out with his antics. But he also had such a kind and generous heart. A soft side that showed how deeply he cared for people.

Harry might have cried quite a bit when Greg had done his Pedal to the Peaks challenge, and that was right after Harry had been hired on. He barely knew him at all, yet there Greg was putting his actual physical self on the line to help raise money and awareness for mental health issues. 

It had gotten worse since then, but Harry had been quite disappointed when he realised that working the Indie Show meant he often had very different hours at the studio from Greg. Outside of larger work functions, like the annual Christmas party and other such events, they essentially never saw each other.

Which was fine. Harry didn’t actually think he really had a chance with Greg anyway, but it made it hard to even dream when they were so entirely separated.

Substituting for Adele gave Harry the chance to be in the studio when Greg was, though. This could potentially be his chance to actually become friends - or maybe even  _ friendlier  _ \- with Greg. 

Even those hopes of interaction with Greg during the turnover from the Early Breakfast Show to the Breakfast Show had been dashed on Monday. Harry realised at about 6:15 that he actually turned things over to Roisin for a quick Newsbeat update and Roisin did the handoff to Greg. Now it was Wednesday, half of the week already over, and Harry had yet to find a chance to even talk to Greg.

Harry was now listening to Greg’s show as he worked in the open space office area of their floor, trying not to pout to himself over his loss of opportunity with Greg. He had a few things to solidify for Thursday and Friday’s show before he could go home and finally sleep. His extreme sadness today was likely because his sleep schedule had been messed up, anyway. 

Usually, he was leaving the studio around the time Adele was starting. He’d get home and be able to sleep a decent amount before waking up early afternoon, still able to get his various appointments and errands in before his nightly spinning class at the gym before heading back to the studio. He hadn’t expected that pushing his sleep schedule back a few hours would cause him to feel so emotional and upended. All the same, he didn’t want to completely rearrange his life when it was only a week that he’d be working this shift.

Blinking furiously, Harry pulled himself back to the task at hand when he heard Greg playing the fanfare he saved for his star listener. It wasn’t even 7:30, he’d chosen the day’s star listener quite early. They must have done something with Ainsley Harriet to get that kind of attention.

“Alright, now. As I’m sure you know, I keep a tin in the cupboard of the studio. Our fancy hamper was recently stolen, and we are therefore doing what we can with this tin. I’m sorry to say, our stash of awards is not as plentiful as it once was because of that, but I still think you’ll be quite happy with your options!”

Harry couldn’t help chuckling a little. Greg was still bitter about the hamper going missing a few months ago. He’d staged a ridiculous “investigation” and everything, but nothing had ever turned up. Harry still came in to find random posters in all the studios with Greg offering rewards, though, so he definitely hadn’t lost hope just yet.

“Okay, so you have your choice of a signed vinyl of  _ September Song _ by JP Cooper, a quite old and only partially used squeezy container of honey, or a minimally chipped Radio 1 mug!”

Harry paused, his eyebrows furrowing. Why would Greg even consider giving away partially used honey? Who would ever even choose that?

As if Greg could hear Harry’s thoughts, he started speaking again before the star listener could respond. “Actually, you know what? I might nick that honey for myself. I ran out of my own stash over a week ago and I keep forgetting to replace it. Wait, Producer James is trying to say something. What were you saying, James?”

There was a rustling sound as Harry was sure James positioned himself close enough to a microphone to be heard. “Why are you talking about keeping the one prize no one would want for yourself? Do you even think it’s sanitary?”

“What? Of course it’s sanitary!” Greg cried, at least pretending to be affronted. “I wouldn’t be offering our star listeners unsanitary honey!”

The two of them, as well as the star listener, continued bantering, but Harry was no longer taking in any of it. As soon as he finished his work, he was going to run to the shop and get Greg his own jar of honey. That was it. That was finally the way he would be able to speak with Greg. It was perfect.

*~~***~~*

Harry woke up, groggy and feeling off like he had been every day this week. He’d been sleeping at least four hours later than usual, and because of that he’d been feeling a bit confused about what his body should be doing.

Once he had finally washed up, chosen an outfit for work, and made a list of everything he needed to get done on Thursday before going to bed, he walked into the kitchen to grab a protein shake before heading to the gym. Working overnights were so trippy. It was still Wednesday, just like it had been when he’d gone to bed, but by the time he got home again it would be Thursday. 

Sighing to himself, Harry ruffled his hair and gave up trying to think too deeply just yet. His brain obviously hadn’t fully woken up yet. He turned into the kitchen and then froze. 

Sitting on the counter was a massive jar of honey.

Shit. He’d forgotten about his quest to get honey for Greg so they could finally speak. Okay, well he obviously needed to get the honey to Greg at some point, and the sooner the better. Harry didn’t want this weighing on him.

Glancing at the clock, Harry realised it was already past 7. He was going to be late to his spinning class if he didn’t leave right now, but if he did that he would not have enough time to get to Greg’s flat before he got to sleep. Fuck.

Fine. Harry could go one day without his spinning class. If that was the case, though, Harry really did need to get cleaned up and looking decent sooner rather than later. Rushing back to his room to see what he could do about his unruly mop of hair, Harry started formulating what he’d say to Greg once he finally got to his flat on the other side of town.

*~~***~~*

Harry took a deep breath and cursed himself. He hadn’t expected it to take over an hour to find Greg’s flat, but at least he’d finally made it. He was really regretting not being able to make it to the birthday party he’d thrown for himself last year, because if he’d not been ill that day then Harry might have been able to better prepare for the journey.

All the same, he was finally here at Greg’s, so he needed to just go and knock on his door already.

Glancing up at the sky, he was amazed at how dark it had gotten just in the past ten minutes. If nothing else, that was enough to finally get Harry to raise his fist and knock.

Harry knocked once more before coming to the conclusion that knocking for longer than that was rude. Maybe he should just bring the honey to work? He could maybe wait for Greg to put on a few songs in a row and then he could try to get his attention or something?

He’d just decided that was what he’d do when the door opened.

Turning back to the front, Harry’s eyes widened and guilt flooded him. “Fuck, you were asleep, weren’t you?”

“Well, it’s past 8, so yeah, basically,” Greg said with a yawn. 

God, he’d been asleep for over an hour. Harry was the worst. 

“I’m so sorry. Here. Take this and get back to sleep. I’m so incredibly sorry for waking you up,” Harry babbled, shoving the jar into Greg’s hands. 

Greg looked at the jar then back up at Harry, still not saying anything. Probably because his brain was still asleep just like his body would’ve been if Harry hadn’t been a fucking idiot.

“Sorry again!” Harry said before giving a lame wave and rushing off to the nearest tube station.

*~~***~~*

Harry was so tired. He had been so stupid. He’d gotten to the studio  _ hours _ earlier than he’d needed to, so he’d started planning his shows for next week and otherwise napped a bit. He really wished he wasn’t such an idiot.

Now, though, he only had an hour and a half left of the show and he just wanted it to be over with so he could get home and die of misery in peace.

He’d just put on the first of three songs when he saw movement outside the studio. Harry turned to look and saw Greg standing there, looking like he was debating coming in, but wasn’t sure.

“He’s been waiting since you started speaking this last break, mate.”

Harry turned to look at Adele’s producer, John, and couldn’t help it. “Really? Why? This is an hour before his production meeting, isn’t it?”

John gave Harry an unimpressed look. “Just let him in, yeah?”

“Right,” Harry said before turning back to Greg and waving him in. He triple checked the mics were muted and tried to calm his racing heart.

Was Greg mad that Harry had just shown up out of the blue? Was he angry that he’d woken him up just for some honey? Was he here to tell Harry he’d gone to the police about a restraining order?

“This is a real nice studio you keep here, Styles. Love what you’ve done with the place,” Greg said, waving around at the same decorations and colours used in the studio he frequents as well. 

“Yeah, love what Adele’s done with the place. I was glad she gave me free reign, but in the end I decided not to change too much. Only here for a week, you know,” Harry bantered back before forcing his mouth shut. Oh shit. He’d actually just held a successful back and forth with Greg James. He could die happy now.

“Right” Greg then glanced down to Harry’s chest.

Shit. He was still wearing the same thing he’d worn the night before in an attempt to look nice for Greg, but now he’s been caught out at work. He hadn’t bothered to button any of the higher buttons either, telling himself Grimmy never bothered so he didn’t have to either.

“Those are some really nice tattoos,” Greg said, coming closer and leaning in. “Are they birds? With eyebrows?”

Harry leaned back and protectively covered his birds. He loved his birds. “Fuck off, at least they’re better than a tattoo that looks like a mole on your hand.”

Greg’s face broke into a look of shock before he laughed so hard he almost lost his balance. “Excuse you, I shared that story in the privacy of a poorly moderated game with the listeners of Dottie’s show! You are not allowed to use it against me!”

Harry was laughing now too before asking, “Okay, okay. But which hand is it on? I really do want to see this ‘little circle’ the tattoo artist filled in for you.”

“I’m never really sure if I can say I’ve got tattoos since that’s still my only one. I always say no, because how am I supposed to explain it?” Greg asked as he held out his hand for Harry to look at the tattoo.

“It really does look like a mole,” Harry said, trying to keep a serious face.

“Indeed it does,” Greg agreed. He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and looked straight at Harry. The mood instantly shifted and Harry knew he was about to be confronted about his act of idiocy. “So, you came to my place at like half nine last night. With honey.”

Harry pursed his lips and tried to ignore the burning in his cheeks. “That I did.”

“Why?”

Harry widened his eyes and took a deep breath before sighing. “Kind of a long story?”

“John, how much time does Harry have before he’s gotta be back on?”

“Well, it’s two more songs and an advert. Looks like eight minutes twenty.”

Greg turned back to Harry as he sat down in the seat across the desk. “Think you can summarise it in about seven so I have time to wrap up before you’ve gotta get back to work?”

Harry chuckled but did his best. “I’d wanted to talk to you for ages but couldn’t figure out what to say, especially as we didn’t have anything structured with our sets to interact. I heard you talking yesterday about how you’d run out of honey at work, so I thought I’d give you some. I didn’t think about your sleep schedule, though. I’m so sorry about that. I really didn’t mean to wake you up or anything, I just thought it might actually give me an excuse to talk to you. Or something.”

Greg’s eyes were twinkling as he smiled at Harry. Hopefully that was a good thing. God, his brown eyes were so beautiful, Harry was surprised he didn’t catch fire right on the spot. Especially since Greg was leaning his long, fit body so he was closer to Harry, despite the desk between them.

“What do you have going on after your shift?”

Harry blinked. “Wait, sorry. What?” Harry couldn’t have heard him correctly.

“Three minutes, lads.”

“Thanks, John,” Greg said with a smile before looking at Harry again. “I asked what you’re doing after your shift.”

“Oh. Uh. I was planning on going home and sleeping. I guess.”

Greg hummed before leaning back. “Think you could hold off on that for a bit? You interrupted my sleep, seems only fair for me to do the same for you.”

“Why?”

Greg laughed and shook his head. “Because I want to take you out for brunch, you idiot. I’m more than happy to let you sleep after. Promise. But it’s not every day a fit lad shows up on my doorstep delivering the exact thing I’m in need of, hmm? Seems I should reward him somehow.”

Harry felt like he was barely breathing. “I don’t need a reward,” he whispered.

Greg stood up and shrugged. “Perhaps you don’t. But I still would like to take you out. So. Brunch? Soon as I’m off at ten?”

“Yeah, okay,” Harry said, still feeling breathless. None of this felt real.

“Great. See you later, Harry.” Greg waved at John and then walked back out of the studio.

Harry turned quickly to John and said, “He just asked me out on a date, right? I didn’t just imagine that?”

John chuckled. “Definitely not. But you better pull yourself together, lad, because you’re on in twenty.”

“Right.” Harry nodded and put his headphones back on before looking at the countdown on the computer. “Right.” 

*~~***~~*

Harry was just as much of a disaster at brunch as he had feared, but Greg didn’t seem to mind. He welcomed Harry into his flat afterwards and gave Harry a nice cuddle on the couch as he fell asleep. 

It was the best night’s sleep Harry had all week.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :D If you did, please consider leaving a kudos, a nice comment, or even giving a cheeky reblog of [my fic post](https://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/186330573013/honey-honey-how-you-thrill-me-by-lululawrence). I'd sure appreciate it! Thank you!


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